The top local stories this morning from KERA News: Now that Texas Senator Ted Cruz ended his presidential campaign, he’ll be returning to the Senate next week.
During his campaign, Cruz often called his Congressional colleagues ‘the Washington Cartel.’ Abby Livingston with the Texas Tribune thinks that’s unlikely to hurt him if he runs for re-election in 2018.
“I just have a very difficult time seeing any Republican in the state challenging him,” she said. “It’s up to Cruz if he wants to run another term, and I think he’ll have a fairly easy time should he choose re-election.”
Livingston also pointed out the possibility of Cruz trying again for the Republican presidential nomination in 2020.
“Ted Cruz’s political idol, Ronald Reagan, ran in 1976, lost, and ran again in 1980,” said Livingston. “Cruz very frequently mentions those two campaigns, so I think that’s always been part of his strategy from the get go.”
Mending fences at the Capitol may have to be a part of that strategy as well. Fellow Texas senator John Cornyn last week said Cruz only came to Washington to run for President. And Former House Speaker John Boehner called the freshman senator “Lucifer in the Flesh.”
We’ll have more on the senator’s strained relationship with fellow Republicans in Washington tonight on All Things Considered.
Other stories this morning:
- Dallas County has filed a lawsuit against German automaker Volkswagen for its car emissions violations. The lawsuit alleges at least 3,000 manipulated vehicles were on Dallas County roads. The county’s seeking more than a million dollars in damages.
- A Dallas music producer takes a stab at creating a new score for one of the most gripping sci-fi movies of all time – 1979’s “Alien.”
You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.
